Had Trump attended, he would have likely claimed that he didn’t mean to be offensive and that he was supporting Christians and religious liberty, as his campaign has contended already this week. But even without the Republican frontrunner in attendance, other conservatives at the event came to his defense.
“It’s not my job, it’s not Donald Trump’s job, it’s not anybody’s job to police a question,” former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum told reporters about Trump’s refusal to correct the man in New Hampshire who called President Barack Obama a Muslim. “The questioner can say whatever he wants, it’s a free country.”
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz similarly refused to tell reporters how he would have handled the same question that was asked of Trump. Instead, he accused the media of trying to “stir up controversy.”
Attendees of Heritage’s “Take Back America” forum were disappointed that Trump did not show up and also defended his controversial comments.
“I do a lot of public speaking, and sometimes when people in your audience say something, it’s not your place to correct them or to embarrass them,” Melanie Kurdys, who traveled to the event from Michigan, told ThinkProgress. “They’re there with their friends. Obama’s not there. And it’s not our job to defend him. I think the media overblew that whole thing and it really was inappropriate for them to take it out of context.”
Some attendees cited Trump’s “business transaction” as a legitimate excuse to back out from the event, but many said that canceling was inappropriate.
“I am mad,” Kurdys said. “This format is so much better to get a real understanding of the person, their feelings, their thoughts. And the questions have been really good. It’s hard to say why he didn’t come but it’s just disappointing because it would have been nice to hear him in this format. He seems like the kind of man that wouldn’t shy away from a challenge, so if that’s what he did, it would be really disappointing.”
The absence of the Republican frontrunner didn’t stop attendees from donning Trump pins, t-shirts, and hats around the arena.
“He should be here! He should be here! There’s nothing that should of kept him from this,” Dee Middleton of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina told ThinkProgress. “He owes the Greenville, South Carolina people an apology for not being here.” Her husband, Tom, assured her that “he’ll be back.”
At the Heritage forum, each candidate was given 25 minutes alone on the stage to answer questions posed by Heritage’s CEO and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R). The questions were policy-focused and asked the candidates to explain their positions on the economy, education, welfare programs, and other international issues. Trump has been criticized for his inability to answer policy-focused questions — one reason many attendees cited that he may have backed out.
Other speakers — like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who said that police are always right — filled the Trump void by making their own extreme, controversial statements. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal continued his attack on the business mogul during his remarks Friday night and Ben Carson, who was celebrating his birthday Friday, joked that Trump dropping out was the best present.
Some conservatives in the audience, like Randy Knisley of Taylors, South Carolina, were not disappointed with the Trump-free event. Knisley said that Trump should get used to backlash if he keeps making controversial statements.
“If Trump wants to stick his foot in his mouth, he should be used to the taste of shoe leather by now.”
Original Article
Source: thinkprogress.org/
Author: Kira Lerner
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